Real-time ODIN data is coming!
This week we at the CONA team at NIWA achieved a small but very significant milestone. Real-time data has started coming in from our first wirelessly networked ODINs.
Until now the ODINs have stored all of their data onto an onboard SD card which was manually downloaded by a technician. Clearly, this introduced a delay between the data been recorded and us getting our hands on it (and subsequently making charts or maps. This delay could be months in some cases.
Although it has been technically possible to telemeter the data wirelessly, we opted to concentrate on proving the value of the ODIN data first, before implementing this.
By the end of last year we were totally convinced that the ODIN data was valid and highly valuable, so over the summer ODIN's creator Gustavo re-designed the ODIN for remote data download, using a mobile phone modem in each device. This increased the power demands of the ODIN so it also required a larger battery and solar panel.
However, after some tests in Gustavo's back yard 9 of the new ODINs were yesterday deployed in a grid pattern across Alexandra in central Otago and instantly lovely fresh data started appearing on our cloud server, visible on our screens in Auckland.
This opens up a whole new range of possibilities - particularly providing the rapid feedback to the community that was always at the heart of the CONA concept.
A network of the same new devices is also being installed across Gisborne this week. We'll spend the next couple of weeks checking the data, and designing some initial visualisation tools before we start to post some results.
Until now the ODINs have stored all of their data onto an onboard SD card which was manually downloaded by a technician. Clearly, this introduced a delay between the data been recorded and us getting our hands on it (and subsequently making charts or maps. This delay could be months in some cases.
Although it has been technically possible to telemeter the data wirelessly, we opted to concentrate on proving the value of the ODIN data first, before implementing this.
By the end of last year we were totally convinced that the ODIN data was valid and highly valuable, so over the summer ODIN's creator Gustavo re-designed the ODIN for remote data download, using a mobile phone modem in each device. This increased the power demands of the ODIN so it also required a larger battery and solar panel.
However, after some tests in Gustavo's back yard 9 of the new ODINs were yesterday deployed in a grid pattern across Alexandra in central Otago and instantly lovely fresh data started appearing on our cloud server, visible on our screens in Auckland.
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| Alexandra - you are now being monitored |
This opens up a whole new range of possibilities - particularly providing the rapid feedback to the community that was always at the heart of the CONA concept.
A network of the same new devices is also being installed across Gisborne this week. We'll spend the next couple of weeks checking the data, and designing some initial visualisation tools before we start to post some results.
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